NMSU Board of Regents reaffirms commitment to Division-I athletics, football

By Teddy Feinberg/tfeinberg@lcsun-news.com

Posted:
05/10/2013 07:38:05 PM MDT

LAS CRUCES - During their Friday meeting, New Mexico State's Board of Regents reaffirmed the university's commitment to Division I athletics, including a program in the Football Bowl Subdivision.

Ben Woods, NMSU senior vice president for external relations and chief of staff, said football is "a key ingredient in setting the mood of the campus in the fall semester.

"Universities are judged by who they compete with as well as how well they compete (which is further) evidence of the importance of our NCAA, Division-I status, and the conference we belong to," Woods said.

"The Board of Regents of New Mexico State University state our commitment for NMSU to create a strong and respected athletic program, that competes at the Division-I, FBS level," Woods said. "We have reviewed our financial status regarding intercollegiate athletics at NMSU and feel justified in continuing at this level of financial commitment, and see adequate justification for the investment made."

Those comments came just two weeks after then-presidential candidate Garrey Carruthers said during an open forum with students that perhaps reducing or dropping the Aggie football program could be a possibility.

Carruthers, who was named school president this past Monday, said following Friday's regents meeting, "I'm not going to drop football. We're going to press ahead with an aggressive athletics program and I'm totally on board.

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During a strategic-plan presentation to the regents on Friday, NMSU Athletics Director McKinley Boston said the football budget is "about $6 million," adding Sun Belt Conference members "average expenditures in football is about $5.3 million."

Part of the $6 million counts toward tuition waivers, which Boston said accounts for "probably a million dollars."

When told that some past coaches at the school might debate such numbers, Boston said, "They can debate it all they want. It is an absolute accurate number."

Interim President Manuel Pacheco said during Friday's meeting that joining the Sun Belt as a football-only affiliate was an important designation for the university. Pacheco added "hopefully, there will be some better opportunities to expand this membership to other (sports) programs."

NMSU is currently a football-only member in the Sun Belt, while the school's non-football sports remain in the Western Athletic Conference.

"We also hope to one day to have all sports as a single-conference alignment," Woods said.

Pacheco also said AggieVision - the television broadcasting service that televises Aggie sporting events - was important in the school's explorations in conference realignment.

"There was a tremendous amount of interest in our AggieVision unit," Pacheco said. "That is a true asset that other universities don't have."

"I'd have to investigate it," he said when asked if AggieVision is something he'd like to continue. "I said I was going to do a transition team on athletics. That group has just now been formed, and (AggieVision) may be one of the subjects they will take a look at."

Carruthers added it was too early to comment on possible administration changes in the athletics department, and any decisions wouldn't come until June at the earliest.

Teddy Feinberg can be reached at (575) 541-5455. Follow him on Twitter @TeddyFeinberg